plus baby
by Magical-Carpet-Ride
Summary: Suddenly it felt as though the oxygen was being sucked from my lungs, spluttering and coughing I tried to get the other Starkids attention, but it was as though I was invisible.
1. OXYGEN

**Merediths POV:**

It was the second rehearsal for twisted, and Jafar was busy telling Jasmine the perils of dating a man like Aladdin. I sat in the far corner of the theater just watching them.

Once the scene ends Nick, Matt and Brian decide to hold a 15 minute break. Thankful for the rest the starkids rust to the corner where I'm sitting to retrieve their bottles of water, and in Brian's case his emergency 6 pack of redbull.

Suddenly it felt as though the oxygen was being sucked from my lungs, spluttering and coughing I tried to get the other starkids attention, but it was as though I was invisible.

Feeling very lightheaded I slipped unexpectedly from my seat and on to the floor with a BUMP, but still the starkids ignored me.

Straining to draw oxygen back into my lungs, I glared wildly around the room to see why the other starkids could not recognise that I was in trouble.

Dylan and Jeff were attempting to catch different sweets in their mouths, Lauren was half watching them as she searched through her own bag for something or other. Rachel, Jaime and Denise were huddling over a magazine whilst Joe, Nick and Jim slouched on plastic chairs engrossed in their phones. Alex, Brian and the Langs leaned against the wall talking.

No one looked my way. No one came to help. It was as though I was not even there.

The lack of oxygen was giving me a pounding headache. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The edges of my vision blurred and everything slowly slipped out of focus and into darkness.

I couldn't see any more and the more I tried to call out for help the more my head pounded. THUMP! THUMP THUMP!

My brain started numbing and I lost all feeling. But my head was still pounding, I could hear it...THUMP! THUMP!THUMP!

**AN:**

**So I have finally persuaded myself to publish this, I hope you like it. I have a (very) vague idea where this story is going.**

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! I'm so nervous it would be nice to hear from some of you!**

**And I will give you some thing in return...ABRACADABRA! *it starts raining kittens!***

**Magical Carpet Ride*shuffles off into the sunset***


	2. BANG! BANG! BANG!

**Laurens POV: **

"Meredith!" I scream over and over, I knew something was wrong. I repeatedly hurled my small fists against Meredith's bedroom door. I had felt that something was wrong for a while and now I couldn't shake the feeling that Meredith was in trouble.

**Two Hours Earlier: **

"Mere?" I gently shook the shoulder of the woman next to me, Meredith's eyes were drooping and she was fight a battle to stay awake...and losing. " Mere go to bed! 'Cus I'm not 'gonna carry you! Our movie night can wait." I reached over and paused Mulan and returned to look at Meredith who was yawning widely "If thats alright Lo? I have not been sleeping well lately. I'll see you tomorrow." Sighing I unpaused Mulan, it had just got to the good bit and I'm sure Mere would not mind.

** Later: **

Mulan had finished and I was on my way to my room, passing Meredith's room I stopped, Im sure I heard something, then I heard it again a sharp gasp followed by a moan and a cry. Confused I knock...nothing. So I try the handle...locked! Deciding to question her over breakfast I go to bed and slip into a blissful sleep.

**Even Later: **

A scream split through the night waking me instantly, what was...MEREDITH! Jumping out of bed I start pounded on her bedroom door.

**Now: **

Still no answer, now I KNEW something was wrong. I continued to hammer on her door. BANG! BANG! BANG!

**AN: ****WOOP! 2 chapters, and more to come! Aint you lucky! I'm starting to enjoy this! Please review to make it better! And I will ABRACADABRA *magic stars start to rain on you***

**Magical Carpet Ride *shuffles into the sunset!*****  
**


	3. Awoken

**Merediths POV:**

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! Gasping I opened my eyes and felt Oxygen flood my lungs. Beautiful sweet oxygen. Taking in my surroundings I realized I was in my room. In my bed, my bedside clock lit up with 2:15 am, it had just been a dream. I was coated in a clammy sweat, raising a hand to my head and rubbing my temples it ached...badly. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! No that wasn't my head. Someone was hammering against the door I vaguely remember locking last night.

My head was hurting so badly it was difficult to keep my eyes open. Slowly I shuffled to the door and unlocked it. Without warning a small wriggling form fell through the door and onto me, causing me to fall sideways against the wall.

**Laurens POV:**

If Meredith didn't open this door soon I would break it down. I KNEW some thing was wrong with her. Suddenly her door opened and I fell through it taking her down with me.

Sitting up all the questions escaped from my mind when I saw the state my best friend was in. Her pajamas were soaked in sweat and her eyes were glazed. "Mere? Mere whats wrong?" no answer. I have never seen her look this ill before. Meredith suddenly turned very green and before I could say a word she leaned over and wretched violently before emptying her stomach of all of yesterdays dinner.

I gasped before springing into action I pulled a sobbing Meredith from the floor and pushed her in to the bathroom and positioning her head over the toilet, just in case.

Then I ran downstairs to grab disinfectant before starting the task of cleaning up.

After cleaning the carpet and changing her bed covers, I quickly changed out of my puke splattered Pajamas. I heard Meredith wretch followed by the dull sound of vomit meeting toilet. I grabbed her some clean pajamas and rushed to her aid.

Meredith was crying in to the toilet bowl. I gently placed a hand on her shaking shoulder, I pulled it away quickly surprised at how hot she was.

" Meredith! You have a fever!" This just caused her to cry harder. I had to do some thing about the fever, so I turned on the shower and gently persuaded Mere under its icy blast.

"AH!" She gasped "It's so cold!"  
"It has to be" I answered "You're burning up!" Mere was still in her pajamas so she peeled them off. I turned away to give her privacy. I was not convinced he was well enough to be left alone yet. "Do you know why you were ill yet Mere?" I questioned distracting my self from my best friends naked form by finding her a towel.  
"No Idea."she mumbled she clambered out of the shower, still very pale. I averted my eyes and threw the towel and pajamas at her. "I'll wait out side"I told her. My head running over what she had eaten that day, maybe it was food poisoning?

**AN:**** Right, 3rd chapter up, whatcha think? I don't have a clue where this is going now. Do you want a Lauedith Stepez story? Or just a friendship fic? Please review and tell me whatcha think. If you have a really radical idea (or just want a chat) PM me and I will ABRACADABRA! *a rabbit appears and gives you chocolate***

**Magical Carpet Ride *shuffles away in****to the sunset***


	4. 11 Weeks

**Laurens POV:**

The next morning followed in the same way, and the next, and the next. At last on the third morning of being woken by a chorus of vomit hitting porcelain, I could not take it any longer. Despite Meredith's assurances that it was just a stomach bug, I knew it had gone on for long enough.  
I walked to the bathroom and placed a hand on her sweating, shaking shoulder.  
"Mere, you're ill, this has gone on long enough. I I'm taking you to a doctor."  
Only now did Meredith turn to face me, her forehead creased with pain and worry. I expected her to refuse or shout at me, but instead she nodded slowly and tears started to spill down her cheeks. I pulled her into a hug and held her tightly whilst she sobbed onto my pajama clad shoulder, and there we stayed until we heard the clock in the Living room strike 10'o'clock and my legs were sore from sitting on the floor for 2 hours.

**Merediths POV:**

After I got dressed in my favorite hoodie, leggings and starkid converse, I turned to look in the full length mirror and barley recognized the woman staring back. My once wavy hair was lank and lifeless, my once well fitting clothes were baggy and I had a spray of new spots along my forehead. "EURGH!" I groaned and turned my back on my reflection. The sooner I was over this the better.

The car journey to the doctors was silent as was wait in the silent waiting room. Lauren put a reassuring hand on my shoulder and smiled. I stared straight ahead trying to keep calm. I have never liked doctors, I knew it sounds stupid but I have heard enough stories of people who go into hospitals and don't come out. My heart is pounding and I have bitten my nails to the quick, now I don't know what to do with my hands.  
A nurse appeared around the corner and told me that Dr Brooks is ready to see me now. I tried to get up but my brain went into panic mode and I clutched Laurens arm. She rubbed my back and pulled me towards where the nurse was indicating.

**Laurens POV:**

I sighed. Dr Brooks seemed nice enough, but he had asked me to wait outside whilst he examined and questioned Meredith. I had no idea how much Mere disliked hospitals, and I felt uncomfortable leaving her when I had just witnessed her so distraught.  
Suddenly Dr Brook appeared around the door. "Miss Lopez could you come inside for a moment, Miss Stepien has had a bit of a shock."  
Not needing to be asked twice I rushed into the room.  
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I certainly didn't expect to see Mere in such a state.  
She was slumped unconscious on the examination table, her face pale and her cheeks damp from tears.  
"What happened?" I rushed to sit beside my friend, and pulled her head on to my lap.  
Dr Brook took a seat at his desk "I don't mean to pry into Miss Stepians private life, but do you..." He tailed off looking extremely awkward.  
"What?" I prompted, cradling my still unconscious friend.  
"Uhhrm, do you have any idea when your friend last had, urm intercourse?"  
"What? NO? WHY?!"  
"Your friend Miss Stepien is 11 weeks pregnant..."  
At this point Meredith slowly stirred and opened her eyes.  
I wanted to say something comforting, to give her a hug and tell her that everything was going to be ok, but I couldn't move-until I saw the look on her face, the hurt in her eyes I could practically hear her heart breaking and I knew there was nothing I could do to put it back together.

**AN: Sorry for that, I know it took me ages to update this story, please review and tell me whatcha think, and I will ABRACADABRA! *your room is instantly tidied by a kitten in a suit*****Love and Butterfly kisses  
Magical Carpet Ride *shuffles away into the sunset***


	5. Father?

**Laurens POV:**

I couldn't think of anything to say. I wished Jaime or Julia were here, they always know what to do, but they was away visiting relatives and sightseeing.  
I racked my brains to think of something...ANYTHING? But everything I came up with was useless. I just had to keep calm for Merediths sake. I looked over to the passenger seat of my car to where she was sitting. White faced, crying silently. I wondered what was going through her brain at the moment. The car journey back home was long and eerily silent.

When we got home I sat Meredith down on the sofa with a large mug of hot chocolate, this was going to be an awkward conversation to have.  
"Look Mere, I know this is difficult but we need to talk, we need to sort this out. Do you know the Father? Do I know the Father? We need to tell him."  
She snorted " I didn't wan't this to happen! I didn't want to do it! I told him..."  
"Told who? The Father? Mere who is it?"  
She looked at me over the rim of her mug, I could tell that she was deciding whether or not to tell me.  
She mumbled something barley audible.  
"What?" I pushed urgently.  
"Brian...Holden, he hurt me Lo, he told me he would start hitting me again if we didn't have sex. I thought if I gave him what he wanted he would stop. But he didn't, it got worse, that's why I moved back in with you, I couldn't take it anymore!"  
And with that Mere broke down into tears, her sobs louder and more heart breaking than I had ever heard.  
"That ass hole!" I growled and I gently rocked her weak body back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

**Merediths POV:**

**Flash back:**

He pushed my back roughly against the wall, I braced my self expecting the worse. Expecting a punch or a kick or hurls of abuse, but instead his lips pressed against my ear, he whispered almost lovingly "C'mon Babe! Just this once, I'll be real gentle" Now I knew what he wanted. We had spoken about this, I had told him that I wanted to wait till marriage, he had called me prudish then slapped me- Brian had always been physically aggressive towards me, but it was my first proper relationship and I thought that if I told anyone or tried to stop him, that he would kick me out and then I would be alone- I tried to pull away from his vice like grip, but he pushed me backwards. I felt myself toppling, my feet losing their grip on the floor, I landed onto something soft and yielding, his bed I assumed. I felt Brian land heavily next to me. Then he straddled my waist laughing softly as I struggled to stand and pushing me back onto the mattress. I pushed at him, saying Brian, Please!  
His hands were on my neck, my arms then my legs.  
I said no.  
I said stop.  
Now he was grappling at the neckline of my dress, squeezing my chest. Fury flared in me, fear as well. I hit out at him. But Brian jammed his hand over my mouth and started moaning to himself.  
The pain! I felt as though I was splitting in two. I had not know such pain was possible.  
His hand over my mouth, his head ramming against my chin.

After what seemed like an age Brian stopped, sat up and looked at me, my vision was clouded with tears, and I could see the cold brown of his eyes swimming in front of me. He stood and told me not to leave the apartment till he returned, then he left the room.  
I heard the front door open, then slam. I lay on the double bed naked except for my dress which was now bunched around my ankles.  
In too much pain and too exhausted to move I just pulled the duvet over my aching body and cried myself to sleep.

**AN: I'm Sorry! Whaddya think so far? Please review if you think if this ok, or if you think I went too far. If you have any ideas on what will happen next please review or PM me. ABRACADABRA *you get an A+++++++++++kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss on all of your homework/course work* (D'ja get the HMB reference?)**

**Magical Carpet Ride *shuffles away into the sunset***

**P.S I really like Brolden, this is just for the story. I OWN NONE OF THE STARKIDS!**


	6. What To Do?

**Merediths POV:**

I had spent a fortune on pregnancy tests, each time I hoped it would come up as negative. However test after test came up with a small black positive. Positive. Positive every time!  
Lauren had been my rock, she held my hair back through the morning sickness. She sat up till the early morning hours with me when I couldn't sleep.  
I was still in shock and didn't leave my room very often, and I avoided looking at baby isles when Lauren had lured me out of the house to go shopping.

It had been one week since I had received the news. The only people who knew were me, Lauren and my parents. My parents had found it hard to believe and had naturally been worried and distraught. However supported my plan to keep the baby, it just seemed wrong to kill something that was just there at the wrong time. Still the apartment showed no sign of an incoming baby. We had a spare room, but it was still empty except for a few empty boxes and pieces of rubbish that we never got round to throwing away. But there was still the problem of the apartment, it was big enough for three, but was it fair on Lauren? She had proved a great friend and I loved her for it, but bringing a screaming baby into the flat, waking us up at late hours of the night. It didn't strike me as the kind of thing she would be in for.

**Laurens POV:**

A week after the fateful journey to the doctors Meredith sat me down and told me that when the baby comes she would be planning on moving out.  
I was shocked, to be honest I had never really thought about where I would fit in with this. I had been too busy with Meredith. I knew that one day we would have to go our separate ways, but I never thought it would be so soon and I was enjoying being needed for once.  
To my surprise I felt tears pricking the back of my eyes, but I was determined not to let them spill, after all Meredith had obviously made up her mind what could I do to change that?

**Merediths ****POV:**

I don't know what I was expecting, I wanted her to say something any response would have done. But she didn't say anything, not a word or a gesture for what seemed like an eternity.

**Laurens POV:**

I could feel a headache begin to pound at the back of my head, I wanted to say something but Meredith's eyes were drilling into me with such force that I could not bring myself to answer, knowing that I would break down in tears. I stood-the room spinning, and silently excused myself to the bathroom making sure not to make eye contact with the pleading brown orbs of confusion that were following me around the room.

**AN:****Sorry It has taken to long to upload, I made the mistake of not saving my work at regular intervals, so when my kitten sat on my laptop and deleted all the work :( then I forgot what I wrote so now I have no idea where this is going, bear with me.  
****Please review or follow or favorite because it really does help motivate me, THANKS! ABRACADABRA! * The easter bunny comes and gives you a bumper load of chocolate!*  
****Happy Easter/Holidays**

**Love Magical-Carpet-Ride**


	7. A chat in the bathroom

**Laurens pov: **

I'm not really sure what made me do it, the more I think about it the more I realize how stupid it was. My head was pounding and I was dealing with what felt at the time was severe rejection from my supposed best friend. Now I realize that was not what she was trying to do, she was just looking out for my best interests. But I still ended up standing in front of the bathroom mirror, tears streaming down my face, hating the world. I knew deep down that it should be Meredith who felt this alone and desperate. After all she had been in an abusive relationship with one of starkids biggest heart throbs, she was raped and found she was pregnant. But my vision was clouded with self loathing and self pity.

The shelf of my toiletries stood noticeably messier than my room mates, without thinking I took out my razors. I used to cut when I was 15, when I went through the sketchy emo phase that I am really not proud of now (**AN:****Is this going too far? Please tell me)**. The razors were tempting but they had lost their appeal a long time ago, I wanted something different. Something new. Now it felt as though my head was splitting in two, pressure was building up behind my eyes making them burn. This was turning into a full blown migraine. (possibly the worse I have ever had) My vision blurred and doubled. My nose began running, but when I lifted my sleeve to wipe it away, it came back bloody. My nose was now pouring with blood; the room was spinning and I felt the burning urge to vomit.  
I leaned over the sink retching, blood from my nose mixing with the bitter bile and tears. The room was spinning...and that's all I remember.

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**AN:**** Really sorry bout this, but I had just finished the chapter and was about to hit save...when my stupid narcoleptic laptop decided to turn its self off and configure updates with out warning, so the rest of it might not be how I wanted or remembered, please bear with me...**

* * *

**Some time later: **

Man! I feel stiff! My head was pounding, I must have hit it hard on the linoleum when I went down. CRACK! A sharp sudden pain snapped through my body, causing my eyes to open suddenly and wince in the harsh light. Meredith was standing over me, her hand poised to slap me again. "Lauren? What he hell? Are you ok? You're bleeding!"  
I wiped the drying blood from my top lip and raised my arms towards Meredith as though she was my lifeline "Please don't move out Mere! I need you here...with me!"  
Meredith gave me a long worried look, then she slowly lowered herself to the floor next to me being careful not to jostle her now prominent bump. She moved to wrap me in a hug, and I prepared to melt into her tight embrace. But it never came. I opened my eyes just in time to see the pull a small packet from under her legs. OH GOD! It was my razors, they must have fallen with me. I slammed my eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable argument that lay ahead. But it never came. Instead I felt my hoodies sleeves being gently rolled back, and Merediths cool palm running over every inch of my arm, silently searching for the cuts, but she didn't find any I must have passed out before I had a chance to. I opened my eyes and whispered pleadingly "Please don't move out, I need you here!" Meredith's eyes met mine. Brown melting into brown. "Lauren, I don't want to move out and more than you don't want me to, thanks to baby I'm constantly exhausted. With Brian out of the picture I need all the help I can get. But I thought it would be selfish to ask you to help raise a baby you had nothing to do with.  
"Mere! I would be honored to help you help you raise the baby, but I have no experience with little kids."  
Meredith entwined the pinkie into mine and looked me straight in the eye. We both had tears streaming down our faces now.  
"Lauren with your help, this baby will have an amazing chance to be something great."  
I enveloped Mere into a bear hug and we sat on the bathroom together for a good few minutes, until I had a burning question.  
"Have you told Brian yet?"

* * *

**AN: Whew! Glad that chapters over! I can't believe how dodgy my laptop has been. Anyway I found this chapter really difficult to write, so please review, follow and favorite it, and I really promise to update more often! ABRACADABRA * A mysterious bouquet of flowers appears at your door step!***

**Love Magical-Carpet-Ride *shuffles away into the sunset*  
XXXxxxXXX**


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